Refrigerator-vehicle



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

O. A. KNIGHT. REFRIGERATOR VEHICLE.

No. 439,958. Patented Nov. 4, 1890.

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0.11; KNIGHT. REFRIGERATOR VEHICLE.

Patented Nov. 4, 1890.

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REFRIGERATOR VEHICLE.

Patented Nov. 4, 1890.

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one outer side of the refrigerator.

UNITED; STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES A. KNIGHT, OF BROOKLYN, NEWV YORK.

REFRIGERATOR-VEHICLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,958, dated November 4, 1890.

Application filed'll'uly 16, 1890. Serial No. 358,922. (No model.)

To alt whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. KNIGHT, of

Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented. a new and useful Improvement in Refrigerator-Vehicles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improved refrigerator vehicle, and has for its object to provide a vehicle especially adapted for the storage and conveyance of perishable articlessuch as milk, for instanceand to construct in the vehicle an efficient refrigerating-compartment at a minimum of expense and weight.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a horizontal section through the refrigerator applied to a milk-wagon. Fig.2 is a vertical transverse section on line 90 w of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the central rear post of the refrigerator. Fig. 4 is avertical section through the rear portion of the refrigerator and vehicle, illustrating the said central rear post in side elevation. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section taken practically on line y y of Fig. 6, illustrating one side of the ice-receptacles in elevation. Fig. 6 is a rear elevation of the vehicle, one door of the refrigerator being open.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the vehicle, the

rear side of which is broken away to disclose Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section through a basket adapted to contain jars or other vessels and to be introduced into the refrigerator, and Fig. 9 is a-pl'an view of the same.

12 are vertically located, which bars extend from the floor of the wagon to the partition 10 only. 7

Sheets 13, of zinc or other suitable metal or a non-conduetin g material, are secured to the inner faces of the arched uprights 11 and the interposed bars 12, and likewise to the outer side edges of the upper partition. The sheets 13 constitute the sides of the refrigerator B, and also serve to form side flues 14:, into which air passes through apertures 15, pro duced in the bottom of the wagon, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the flues being best illustrated in Figs. 1 and 7. The fines 14 have free communication with a chamber 0 above the partition 10,which chamber is open at its front and provided at or near the center and rear ends with cross-partitions 16 and 17, having openings or ventilators 18 therein. The air entering the open front end of the chamber 0 and passing out through the rear openings creates a suction which draws currents of air upward through the apertures 15 and fiues 14, as indicated by the arrows in Figs. 5 and 7.

Below the partition 10 a second horizontal partition 19 is constructed, which constitutes the top of the refrigerator. The space intervening the two horizontal partitions is utilized as a storage-compartment E for the reception of empty receptacles. The front end of this compartment is open, but the rear end is provided with a hinged door 20, preferably set to open upward, as shown in Fig. 6.

A fixed central perpendicular post 21 is erected between the floor'22 of the refrige rator, which is built upon the bottom of the wagon, or may consist of the bottom itself,

and the top of the refrigerator, the said post being provided in its outer face at each side edge with a vertical rabbet 23. The inner side edges of two doors 24c and 25 are hinged in the rabbeted portions of the post, as shown in Fig. 1, and the opposite side edges of the doors close against the sides of the vehicle, to

which they are bolted or otherwise locked in tached to its lower end, as is best illustrated in Fig.4. This post is maderemovable, as it constitutes the rear wall of the ice-chamber, to be hereinafter described, and is fitted to place by entering the prongs into suitable apertures in thetop of the refrigerator and forcing the bolts into keepers in the bottom of the same.

At each side of the center of the refrigerator a series of horizontal aligning upright studs 30 is located, the said studs being arranged in two rows, and the studs of each row are placed at suitable intervals-apart. The studs, preferably, consist of metal bars, rectangular in cross-section, the upper ends of which are flanged or bent at a right angle, and the upper horizontal sections thus'formed are bolted to the top of the refrigerator, as shown in Fig. 2, the bottoms of the studs being firmly held between two tracks 31, which tracks are preferably angular or L-shaped in cross-section, as is illustrated in said Fig. 2.

Between the central series of studs 30 and the sides of the refrigerator one or more intermediate rows of'studs 32 of like construction are erected, the said intermediate studs being attached to the top and bottom of the refrigerator in the same manner as are the central studs. The studs are arranged in both longitudinal and transverse rows, and to the sides of each longitudinal row of studs three or more equidistant angled slideways 33 are attached, the said slideways extending, essentially, from the front to the rear of the refrigerator.v The slideways 33 consist, preferably, of metal bars L-shaped in cross-section, and the slideways upon the intermediate studs 32 are placed'back to back, as shown in Fig. 2. The slideways are placed back to back only at the center of the central studs 30, as the space between these studs is adapted to constitute an ice-chamber. The studs are braced, preferably, through the medium of transverse rods or bars 34, extending from side to side of the refrigerator at the center thereof, which bars are secured to the bottom of the central slideways.

The rear doors 35 and 36 of the refrigerator are hinged to the sides of the wagon and closed againstthe rabbeted portions of the re movable post 26, to WlllCll portlons they are bolted in any suitable or approved manner, as illustrated-in Fig. 6. The bottom and top, as well as the sides, of the refrigerator are lined with zinc, and eachof the doors and the inner faces of the end posts are likewise lined with the same or with equivalent material. The inner faces of both the front and rear doors of the refrigerator have secured thereto a number of elastic buffers 37. The

slideways 33 are of the same length, with the,

exception of the inner central slideways attached to the inner faces of the central studs 30. These slideways are slightly shorter than 'the others, as shown in Fig. 3, owing to the inward projection of the end posts.-

Upon the central inner slideways of the central studs 30 the upper ice-receptacle 38 is supported, and upon the corresponding slideways at the lower end of the central studs, the lower ice-receptacle 39 is supported. The ice-receptacles near their upper ends, or between the center and the upper edge, are provided with a series of apertures or openings 40, as best shown in Fig. 5, and the bottoms of the receptacles are also apertured. The upper ice-receptacle drips into the lower one, and the drip from the lower ice-receptacle passes off through a tube or tubes 41, located in the bottom of the refrigerator and bottom of the wagon, as best shown in Fig. 2. The end post 26 is disengaged or removed from the refrigerator to permit of the ice-receptacles being removed when occasion may demand.

Upon the upper face of the intermediate partition 19 a number of angular tracks 42, are laid, the said tracks and likewise the slideways 33 of the refrigerator being so spaced as to receive baskets F, illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9, in which baskets the milk-cans are placed. The baskets are generally rectangular in contour and are divided into a number of compartments, preferably six, ordinarily by meansof longitudinal and transverse wires 43 and 4.4. The handles 45 of the baskets are vertically adj ustable-thatis, the lower members of thehandles are held to slide in sleeves 46, secured to the ends of the basket, the extremities of the handles being inwardly bent, as shown in Fig. 8. the baskets have been placed upon thetracks or slideways, the handles are pushed .downward until the lower extremetiesthereof Virtually engage with the bottoms of the baskets. Thus the baskets take up but compara tively little space in therefrigerator. When a basket is removed, it may be readily carried, as the handle in lifting the basket is drawn upward and outward to aproper height.

The refrigerator is usually made'of sufficient length from front to back to accommodate three baskets placed 'end to end upon each of the slideways 33, and the height of the refrigerator is such as to accommodate four tiers of baskets.

I desire it to be understood that inJthe present application I do not claim the basket illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9, as I amabout to file a separate application therefo'n.

Having thus described'my invention I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent 1. The combination, with a' refrigerator, a storage-compartment above the refrigerator, and an air-chamber above the storage-compartment and having an inlet and an outlet, of air-fines locatedat the sidesnof the refrigerator and communicating with the upper airchamber, substantially as shownand described.

2. The combination, with a vehicle and a refrigerator-box erected within the same,.of two doors closing the rear of the box, a re- When movable post against which the doors close, an ice-compartment, the rear open end of which is closed by said removable post, and slideways at the sides of the said ice-compartment, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with a vehicle and a refrigerator-box erected within the same and provided with doors at each end, of a removable post against which the rear doors close, provided with spurs at one end and bolts at the other end, an ice-compartment, the rear open end of which is closed by said removable post, ice-receptacles capable of sliding in the said compartment upon the removal of said post, and slideways located at the sides of the ice-receptacles, substantially as shown and described.

4. A refrigerator consisting in a vehicle, a

refrigerator-box erected within the same, an air-compartment above the box, having 3111 111- let and outlet and side flues communicating with the air-compartment, an intermediate storagecompartment, doors at the front and rear of the refrigerator-box, a removable post, against which the rear doors. close, an wecompartment, the rear open end of which 1s closed by the removable post, ice-receptacles capable of sliding in said compartment upon the removal of the post, slideways located at the sides of the ice-compartment, and looking devices attached to the removable post,

as and for the purpose specified.

I CHARLES A. KNIGHT.

Witnesses:

J F. AOKER, G. SEDGWICK. 

